This expedition started in Sofia, Bulgaria and headed south taking in the neighbouring countries of Serbia and North Macedonia before returning to Bulgaria. The 2 IBRG members travelled from Denmark and the UK and the focus of the trip was to visit 2 Balkan tripoints and explore the border crossings enroute. Because of time and logistics some border visits by the UK participant sit outside this expedition because IBRG rules dictate that there are 2 members minimum on any expedition. As with all the IBRG trips there was lots of discussions, food and drink! This page is an introduction to the trip with individual reports being accessible by clicking on either the photos or the links (in red) either within the text via the menu of the right hand side of the page.
Participants: Barry Arnold (UK) and Jesper Neilsen (DK)
Day one
After leaving Sofia in our hire car we headed south east towards our first target the Bulgaria – North Macedonia – Serbia tripoint BGMKRS which on the face of it was the easiest of the tripoints we were looking at bagging. Our plan was to drive to Žeravino, a remote Bulgarian hamlet and onto St George’s Church before walking up to the summit of Shulep Kamak Peak (1337m). From the summit there were great views of the 3 countries and a number of border markers. The border between Bulgaria and Serbia was well demarcated, with main and intermediate border markers. The border between Bulgaria and North Macedonia was less well demarcated with main border markers some distance apart. For the full report with maps, additional photos of border markers and narrative click here or the photos below.
BGMKRS
Day Two
Day two was a relatively quiet day with a drive south from Bulgaria to North Macedonia through Serbia. A short drive took us to our first border crossing from Bulgaria into Serbia. For the full report with maps, additional photos of border markers and narrative click the photos below.
Having never visiting Serbia we took the opportunity for a leisurely lunch and a visit to a famous Serbian Orthodox monastery, an 11th century important religious site, and the second largest monastery in the country. It is dedicated to Saint Prohor who lived as hermit for 60 years in the nearby mountains. In 1944 it was decided that North Macedonia would become part of Yugoslavia here. A short distance further south led us to our second border crossing from Serbia into North Macedonia.
Day Three
After an overnight stop in a fabulously quirky hotel we headed back to Bulgaria. The highlight of this day was to visit the tripoint on Mount Tumba (1880m) between Bulgaria, Greece and North Macedonia (BGGRMK).
This is remote tripoint with a 19km walk in along steep woodland tracks. The tripoint itself is fascinating because of the border configuration of the Bulgarian – Greece border and the Bulgarian -North Macedonia
border which form a salient or narrow corridor of Bulgarian territory that terminates at the tripoint. The borders are well demarcated and the summit monument impressive. For the full report with maps, additional photos of border markers and narrative click here or the photos below.
BGGRMK
Post Expedition Visits
Jesper Nielsen
After the participants ended their combined visits, Jesper headed north by car towards Denmark. He took the opportunity to visit another Bulgarian tripoint BGRORS – the wet tripoint between Bulgaria – Romania – Serbia. The tripoint is where the Timok river (which is the border between Bulgaria and Serbia) enters the Danube (which is the border between those countries and Romania.
BGRORS
Barry Arnold
Barry had more time, and headed south east firstly towards the Bulgaria – Greece border and then onwards to the Greece – Turkey border. The highlights of his further explorations was firstly the rarely visited tripoint between Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey, a point that had been visited by the IBRG in 2005 (BGGRTR 2005) and secondly the border between Bulgaria and Turkey on the Black Sea Coast at Rezevo.
BGGRTR
BGGRTR was in a restricted border zone where special permission was required. It had taken a number of months to gain approval to visit this spot accompanied by a senior Bulgarian border official from the local regional office. The Turkish authorities had built a border fence which made it impossible to walk around the monument. For the full report with maps, additional photos of border markers and narrative click here or the photos below.
Bulgarian – Greece border
Two border crossing points were visited. For the full report with maps, additional photos and narrative click on the photos below.
Greece- Turkey border
The Pazarkule-Kastanies Border Crossing between Turkey and Greece is an alternative to the much busier crossing at Kapikule further north.
Rezevo
Rezovo (Bulgarian: Резово) is a village and seaside resort in southeastern Bulgaria. The village is in Strandzha Nature Park. Lying at the mouth of the Rezovo River in the Black Sea, Rezovo is the southernmost point of the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and the southeasternmost inhabited place in Bulgaria and the European Union mainland. Two huge flags stand either side of the river.
Dates of Visit: 25-27 July 2022
Barry's Borderpoints 